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crit•i•cal

Pronunciation: (krit'i-kul),[key]—adj.1. inclined to find fault or to judge with severity, often too readily.
2. occupied with or skilled in criticism.
3. involving skillful judgment as to truth, merit, etc.; judicial: a critical analysis.4. of or pertaining to critics or criticism: critical essays.5. providing textual variants, proposed emendations, etc.: a critical edition of Chaucer.6. pertaining to or of the nature of a crisis: a critical shortage of food.7. of decisive importance with respect to the outcome; crucial: a critical moment.8. of essential importance; indispensable: a critical ingredient.9. Med.(of a patient's condition) having unstable and abnormal vital signs and other unfavorable indicators, as loss of appetite, poor mobility, or unconsciousness.
10. Physics.a. pertaining to a state, value, or quantity at which one or more properties of a substance or system undergo a change.
b. (of fissionable material) having enough mass to sustain a chain reaction.